Novel way to remove stuck seat post using the "heat" method

[Shut Up Legs]

I've had a firmly stuck seat post on my Vivente World Randonneur (my commuter) for at least 6 months now, and have had no success in un-sticking it.

I just had a mini brainwave (I guess I'm not quite over the hill, yet ). One of the stuck seat post removal methods mentioned on Sheldon Brown's web site is to heat it. My rear verandah has clear plastic covering the roof, and behaves much like a greenhouse on hot days. It occurred to me that if I leave the bike out on the verandah on Sunday, when the forecast maximum temperature is 40°C, then try to twist the seat post free, it might have a better chance of working!

Failing that, I'll just have to start working my way through the other known methods of un-sticking the seat post.

 

[PatrickPending]

good luck not even 4c here

 

[oldfatfool]

Worst I live somewhere warm and you don't thread ever.

 

[Globalti]

It won't work. I've poured boiling water - 100 degrees - over the seat tube on a seized bike and it doesn't expand the steel frame enough to break the very thick and tight bond formed by expanded aluminium oxide, which takes up more space than aluminium. You're better off sacrificing the seat post by clamping it in a hefty vice then turning the frame around it. Once it's out, give the tube a really good reaming out with wet and dry paper wrapped around a stick then grease it thoroughly and fit a nice smooth-riding non-rusting carbon post from eXotic at Carbon Components.

 

[Lanzecki]

a nice smooth-riding non-rusting carbon post from eXotic at Carbon Components.

Somewhat specific This is the way to go though. I had a similar problem. I soaked it in WD-40 and various fluids for a week, Heated the frame (it needed painting anyway). I ended up having to cut it out with an electric saw after modifying a saw blade to fit down the tube. Not something I'd want to do to an expensive frame.

Prevention is better then the cure. I wish you luck Victor.

 

[Scoosh]

... and we have to wait till Sunday to know the result ???

Faites vos jeux, Mesdames et Messieurs !

 

[rich p]

It won't work. I've poured boiling water - 100 degrees - over the seat tube on a seized bike and it doesn't expand the steel frame enough to break the very thick and tight bond formed by expanded aluminium oxide, which takes up more space than aluminium. You're better off sacrificing the seat post by clamping it in a hefty vice then turning the frame around it. Once it's out, give the tube a really good reaming out with wet and dry paper wrapped around a stick then grease it thoroughly and fit a nice smooth-riding non-rusting carbon post from eXotic at Carbon Components.

My carbon seatpost has been stuck in the alloy frame for years now. I started a thread on here a while back and tried every method known to CC man. None worked. My fault for not shifting it every so often but I had no idea at the time that it should be necessary.
Clamping it in a vice and twisting the frame was one of the suggested methods I tried but it was clear that the frame was going to give way first.
Coca Cola down the seat tube from the bottom bracket was the weirdest.

 

[gbb]

It won't work. I've poured boiling water - 100 degrees - over the seat tube on a seized bike and it doesn't expand the steel frame enough to break the very thick and tight bond formed by expanded aluminium oxide, which takes up more space than aluminium. You're better off sacrificing the seat post by clamping it in a hefty vice then turning the frame around it. Once it's out, give the tube a really good reaming out with wet and dry paper wrapped around a stick then grease it thoroughly and fit a nice smooth-riding non-rusting carbon post from eXotic at Carbon Components.

My old Bianchi Via Nirone with a carbon wrap seatpost used the vice method...but its scary.
Tried all sorts, penetrating oil down the upturned frame, left to soak for days at a time, absolutely rigid, wouldnt budge.
Eventually i thought well thats it, its the vice method. Killed the seatpost of course, and the screeching and grinding as it gave a tiny bit, then a bit more, horrendously noisy. Half an hour of twisting, graunching and squeeling...out it came.
Its not an easy fix, you might even damage your frame, but as a last resort....

 

[simon the viking]

I Have a stuck seat post on my winter bike as well..... can I come and stay at your house and bask in the heat with my bike for a few weeks whilst the seat post possibly unsticks itself......

No?

Worth a go

 

[Globalti]

I don't know why penetrating oil is so over-rated. Having owned a Land Rover, which has alloy and steel components all mixed up in a wet salty environment, I can tell you that penetrating oil is a s useless as a chocolate watch for freeing rusted components. Once you've broken the bond and got a part moving, penetrating oil can help but with seatposts as with rusted nuts and bolts, as soon as you start moving the parts you build up a "lump" of oxide, which actually causes the parts to gall worse than ever, sometimes badly enough for the rusted bolt to shear clean through. Destruction is the best option and my most useful tool as a Land Rover owner was this:

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Yes, prevention is far, far better than the cure . It's completely my fault for waiting too long before re-greasing it. I may ask around, to find a bike shop with a decent vice, and get them to try the vice-and-spin method.

 

[simon the viking]

Yes, prevention is far, far better than the cure . It's completely my fault for waiting too long before re-greasing it. I may ask around, to find a bike shop with a decent vice, and get them to try the vice-and-spin method.

I tried that at my LBS with a member of staff and we decided the frame would bend first

 

[Shut Up Legs]

@simon the viking: What frame material was it? Mine is the 4130 CrMo alloy.

 

[rich p]

Is there any health risk with sawing and breaking up a carbon post?

 

[rich p]

The jury's unclear
http://velonews.competitor.com/2011...fiber-dust-safe-premature-bearing-wear_162828